


Avengers+3

by MetalPhoenix



Series: Expanded Avengers Verse [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adopted Peter Parker, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Autistic Peter Parker, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Bucky Barnes is Not the Winter Soldier, Bucky is so done with Steve's shit, Canon Divergence - Avengers (2012), Gen, Harley Keener as Iron Lad, Harley Keener is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Irish Steve Rogers, Italian Harley Keener, Italian Peter Parker, Italian Tony Stark, M/M, POV Multiple, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Adopted Child, Protective Harley Keener, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Romanian Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers is a little shit, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-24 07:15:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30068643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MetalPhoenix/pseuds/MetalPhoenix
Summary: Bucky never fell off the train, instead he crashed the plane with Steve.Harley Keener and Peter Parker are Tony's sons (biological and adopted) and also superheroes.How will the events of Avengers 1 differ with three other characters thrown into the mix?(Steve's a little shit, Bucky is exasperated, Harley and Peter just want to help and Tony wants to keep his kids safe)
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker, Harley Keener & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes & Harley Keener, James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, there's more but those are the main ones
Series: Expanded Avengers Verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2212182
Comments: 20
Kudos: 44





	1. Background Information

This is basically what I think the events of Avengers 1 would look like if Peter, Harley and Bucky were involved. 

Bucky:

In this he never fell off the train. Instead he crashed the Valkyrie with Steve. His super hero name is the Winter Soldier but he got it from one of the howlies during the war, not from HYDRA. He was still captured in Azzano and injected with the super soldier serum though. Canonically he was the Commandos sniper so he's a sniper in this too. Though he also underwent some spy training during the war so while he's not as good a spy as say the Black Widow he still has some of those skills. He still has two flesh arms. 

Harley and Peter:

In this they are Tony Stark's sons. Harley is biologically his but Tony didn’t know about him until an old one night stand contacted him when Harley was 5-6 wanting him to live with Tony cuz she couldn’t take care of him properly. Tony said yes. Now Harley’s mom is happily married with a daughter and still lives in Tennessee.

Peter is adopted. His parents and Tony were close friends in college. When they died in a plane crash when Peter was 6 his aunt and uncle couldn’t take care of him so Tony adopted him. He and Harley are the same age though Peter is technically younger by like 4-5 months. They are very close and act as if they were twins. The public doesn’t know about them because Tony didn’t want to shove them into the spotlight like his father did to him. 

They moved from the Malibu mansion to Stark Tower after the events of the first Iron Man movie. So they have been living there for a while. 

When Harley and Peter were 14 they had a field trip to Oscorp where Peter got bit by a radioactive spider and gained his powers. He told Harley about them but not Tony. About a week and a half after this all happened he was visiting May and Ben when Ben was shot and killed by a perp Peter didn’t stop earlier that day, right in front of him. In response he created a suit and became Spider Man. Harley, not one to be out done, created his own Iron Man suit from the little he knew about Tony’s and named himself Iron Lad (This has nothing to do with the Iron Lad from the comics, they just share a name). They started sneaking out at night to fight crime. Tony figured it out extremely quickly. There was a fight but in the end he helped them upgrade their suits (he was very impressed). He also gave them both AI’s. FRIDAY is Harley’s and Karen is Peter’s (JARVIS is still Tony’s)

The Vulture thing still happened when they were about 15 but he was just a regular weapons smuggler (because New York hadn’t happened yet). They fought him and won without the suits after Tony took them away after the Ferry incident (also Tony never sold the tower) 

The story starts 5-6 months after the vulture thing and two weeks after Bucky and Steve are defrosted. Peter and Harley are older than they are in canon as they are 15 in 2012 but that won’t affect the story. Also Peter is a trans boy and autistic but that’s not what this story focuses on. It's just part of his characterization. 

A Lot of the dialog is taken from the first Avengers movie. I don’t go through all the events of the movie because it's not all super important. Just assume any missing pieces is what happens in the movie. I don’t own marvel, any of the characters, or a chunk of this plot 😬. I have the entire story written. I just need to split it into chapters and type/edit it. I will attempt to post once a week. I hope you enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something no one ever thought they would find turns up in the arctic circle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my Beta reader Aglo! 
> 
> (as always I don't own marvel or any of the characters)

A man stood in the frosty wreckage of the Valkyrie, shining a flashlight into a block of ice in which two men were frozen. The two men clung to each other as if any air in between the two offended them. One figure had short brown hair and wore a navy pea coat. The other was blond and clad in the colors of the american flag. One of the brunet's hands pressed the blonds face into his neck while his nose nuzzled the blond hair. The blond had his arms wrapped around the brunet so that the arm that held the shield was on top of the two in a futile attempt to protect them. The figures legs were so tangled together it was hard to tell whose was whose. 

“Lieutenant” the man called. The lieutenant walked over.

“My god…” he breathed. He then reached up and spoke into his ear piece. “Mage get the colonel on the phone.”

“It's 3am sir” came the tinny response

“I don’t care what time it is. This one's waited long enough.”

\--------------------

“Oh my god! These guys are still alive.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and Kudos are my life blood! I hope you all have a wonderful day/night.


	3. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story finally starts!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thank you to my Beta reader Aglo! 
> 
> As always I don't own marvel or any of the characters.

Tony Stark, Harley Keener, and Peter Parker were having a good night. They had switched the Tower from city power to the arc reactor. To celebrate they ate a massive amount of pizza and were just settling down to watch a movie when JARVIS interrupted.

“Sir, Agent coulson of SHIELD is on the line”

“Tell him I'm not in… I’m actually out” 

“Sir I’m afraid he’s insisting”

“Grow a spine JARVIS I’m busy.” they had just gotten back into arguing over what movie to watch when JARVIS interrupted again.

“Sir, the telephone. I’m afraid my protocols are being overridden.”

“Boy’s go in the other room”

“But!” Harley started to protest but before he could finish Tony gave them a look and they shuffled into Peter’s room. Tony sighed because he knew they would watch through JARVIS’s cameras no matter what. He finally picked up the phone.

“You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message.” 

“This is urgent.”

“Then leave it urgently.” Just as he said that the elevator door dinged open and Agent Coulson stepped out. Tony was thankful he had sent Peter and Harley into the other room. The less SHIELD knew about his sons the better. 

“Security breach!”

“Mr. Stark we need you to look this over as soon as possible.” Coulson tried to hand Tony a tablet.

“I… don’t like being handed things.” Coulson set it on the back of the couch “official consulting hours are between 8 and 5 every other thursday.” 

“This isn’t a consultation, this is about the Avengers Initiative.”

“I thought that was scrapped and I didn’t even qualify.” 

“This isn’t about personality profiles anymore.” Tony tapped at the tablet till its contents transferred over to holograms. He sighed. “And if you know where Iron Lad and Spider Man are we would use them on this too.” Tony’s stomach dropped. He didn’t want Harley and Peter anywhere near this stuff. 

“Uh, I’ll see what I can do,'' he said was a confidence he didn’t feel. 

“Thank you.” with that Coulson turned around and left. Tony allowed himself one moment of silence before he heard his sons run out of Peter’s room. Harley was carrying the Iron Lad suitcase and Peter was wearing the Spider Man suit. 

“So when are we leaving?” Peter asked, jumping up and down. 

“ _ We  _ are not going anywhere.  _ I  _ need to do research.” 

“Aw come on old man, Coulson asked for us.” Harley whined. 

“This is bigger than the two of you. This is spys and gods and magic and nothing you two were ever prepared for.”

“Dad we’re not kids!” Peter insisted “We’ve taken down a whole weapons smuggling ring! Or did you forget?” 

“How could I forget! You both were trapped under a collapsed building with no suits! This is much bigger than a weapons smuggling ring. And yes you are still kids. You're 15 years old.”

“You know us so you know that if you try to ground us we’ll just find a way to help anyways.” Harley argued

“Yes! I do know you” Tony was almost yelling now “That's why I’m scared! When I took you two in I swore I would protect you. I can’t let you get hurt from something I could have prevented.” 

“And what if you get hurt or worse by something one of us could prevent!” Peter asked “That… I already failed to protect uncle Ben. I can’t lose you too.” 

“Oh Bambino. I’m not going anywhere. I will always come back to you and your brother.” Tony tried to comfort.

“And how do I know that?” Peter argued “I thought Richard and Mary were gonna come back! I thought Uncle Ben was gonna come back! None of them did! You can’t promise that you will either! But if Harley and I are there we can help you come back safe!”

“Bambino that's what I’m worried about. I’m afraid that if you two come I won’t be able to protect you and that's all I want to do. Protect you two.” 

“Dad, we'll just find a way to fight anyways. If you really want to keep us safe you should keep us where you can see us.” Tony sighed. He really didn’t want either of his boys near any of this but he knew if they thought someone was in danger they wouldn’t hesitate to jump head first into danger to help. Even if it meant breaking his rules. He was so proud of them for caring so much but it was times like this he wished they would be more selfish.

“Fine,” he sighed “but we have a lot of homework to do.” 

\--------------------

Before Nick Fury entered the old gym he could hear the rhythmic thuds of fists hitting punching bags. When he walked through the doors he saw two super soldiers lost in their own heads and two piles of punching bags with sand pouring out the seams. 

“Trouble sleeping?”

“We’ve slept for 70 years sir.” Rogers started.

“We’ve had our fill.” Barnes completed. 

“Then you two should be out, celebrating, seeing the world.” 

“When we went under the world was a war. We wake up, they say we’ve won.”

“They didn’t say what we lost.” It was clear to Fury what was at the forefront of both soldiers minds when Barnes said that. 

“We’ve made some mistakes along the way.” He responded “some very recently.”

“Are you here with a mission sir?” Rogers asked

“I am.”

“Trying to get us back into the world?” Barnes asked

“Trying to save it” The two soldiers glanced at each other, seeming to have a whole conversation in the span of a few seconds. They both looked frustrated. Rogers reached out and grabbed the file Fury offered and he and Barnes looked it over. 

“The Tesseract? Really?” Barnes asked incredulously 

“Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for the two of you. He thought what we think. The tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs.” 

“Who took it from you?”

“”He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we’ll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know.”

“That’s unlikely” Barnes scoffed

“There's debriefing packets for both of you at your apartments. Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?”

“You should have left it in the ocean,” Rogers growled.

\--------------------

Steve and Bucky sat in the quinjet, leaning over a file. Coulson got up from his place in front of a computer and walked over to them. 

“So this Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the serum?” Steve asked

“A lot of people were.”

“You can say that again.” Bucky mumbled. His mind traveled out of the quinjet and back to the HYDRA Base in Azzano. Steve surreptitiously elbowed him to bring him back to the present. 

“You were the world's first superhero.” Coulson continued “Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine’s original formula.” Steve and Bucky both looked back at the video playing of the Hulk in a rampage. 

“Didn’t really go his way, did it?” Bucky commented.

“Not so much. When he’s not that thing, though, the guy’s like a Stephen Hawking.” The two soldiers looked at him in confusion “He’s like… a smart person” he quickly amended. “I gotta say it's an honor to meet you two, officially. I sorta met you. I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping.” At this Steve looked uncomfortable and Bucky was trying to hold back a laugh. “I mean I was present while you guys were unconscious, from the ice.” Steve stood up trying to find a way out of this conversation and Bucky was in silent stitches at this point. “You know it's just a huge honor to have you on board.” 

“Oh, Doamne, Stevie, are o pasiune pentru tine” (Oh my god Stevie he totally has a crush on you-Romanian) Bucky laughed. Steve resolutely ignored him as he turned back to Coulson. 

“I hope we’re the men for the job” 

“Oh you are. Absolutely.” 

\--------------------

Before anything else could be said the quinjet landed on a huge aircraft carrier. As the three walked out a woman with short wavy red hair walked over to them. 

“Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes” Coulson introduced. The two soldiers greeted her at the same time making it impossible to tell when either of them said. Agent Romanoff raised her eyebrow. 

“Hi” she looked at Coulson. “They need you on the bridge. They’re starting the face trase.” 

“See you there.” Coulson said as he walked off.

“It was quite the buzz around here, finding you two in the ice. I thought Coulson was gunna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America and Winter Soldier trading cards yet?” Natasha said. 

“Trading cards?” Steve asked

“I’m on trading cards?” Bucky mumbled to himself. 

“They’re vintage. He's very proud.” As they walked they met a nervous looking man in a beige suit. 

“Dr. Banner!” Steve called

“Oh, yeah, hi” He said, shaking both soldiers' hands. “They told me you guys would be coming.”

“The word is you can find the cube.” Bucky said.

“Is that the only word on me?”

“Only word we care about.” Steve assured. Bruce waved his hand, gesturing to the aircraft carrier. 

“It must be strange for you two. All of this.”

“Nah this is all pretty familiar actually”

“Gentlemen” Natasha interrupted “You might want to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breath.”

“Is this a submarine?” Bucky asked excitedly

“Really?” Bruce asked “They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container.” The three men walked over to the edge of the carrier to get a better look. A giant turbine began to rise out of the ocean and into the air.” 

“This thing flies!” Bucky exclaimed “Holy shit Steve! I never thought I’d see the day.”

“No no this is much worse.” Bruce growned. 

\--------------------

The group made its way inside and onto the bridge. Natasha smirked as the men looked in awe at their surroundings. Bucky became downright giddy when the retro reflective panels engaged and the helicarrier became functionally invisible. The soldiers looked around while Fury and Dr. Banner had a conversation in the corner. After a minute Natasha and Bruce left the room. Suddenly one of the computers started beeping. 

“We got a hit!” an agent yelled “A 67% match. Wait. Cross match, 79%”

“Location?” Coulson asked.

“Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse.” 

“Why does everything have to happen in Germany?” Bucky mumbled to Steve. Steve shrugged. They were forced back into the conversation when Fury spoke. 

“Captain, Sergeant, You’re up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for getting this far and giving this story a chance! Comments, kudos and feedback is always welcome. Next chapter all the characters will meet! I hope you are having a good day/night!


	4. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The conflict begins!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I do not own Marvel or any of these character. 
> 
> Big thanks to my Beta reader Aglo!

Tony, Peter and Harley spent hours pouring over records and scientific papers until Jarvis interrupted. 

“Sirs, I have located Loki in germany. He is heading towards Stuttgart.” The three heroes jumped up and scrambled into their suits, within minutes Tony and the two teens were in the air. The flight took a little under two hours going at mach 3. Tony and Harley took turns carrying Peter there. 

When they were only a few minutes out Jarvis allerted them that a quinjet was already there and Captain America and Winter Soldier were in combat with Loki. 

“Pete I’m gonna drop you off on top of the quinjet. I’ll engage, Harley stay behind me, you’re back up. Codenames only starting now.” Tony ordered.

“Got it!” The boys responded.

“Jarvis, hack into the jets PA system. Play Shoot to Thrill.” 

“Done, Sir” The music started to blast and Harley and Peter grinned. 

“Agent Romanoff, you miss me?” Harley deposited Peter silently on top of the Jet, then followed Tony as he blasted Loki back. THey both pointed their repulsors and missiles at the god. 

“Make your move Reindeer Games.” Loki’s fancy armor and hornes faded away as he raised his hands in surrender. The two iron men retracted thero missiles and lowered their repulsors. 

“Good move.” 

\--------------------

Iron Lad, Iron Man, Steve and Bucky boarded the quinjet with Loki and the loading bay door was about to shut when a figure in bright red and blue spandex crawled on all fours on the ceiling just before it closed. Bucky saw this and jumped. 

“What the hell is that?” He asked. The figure scuttled to him and stuck out his hand.

“Hi Mr. Winter Soldier Sir! I’m Spider man” he said. Bucky suspiciously stuck out his hand.

“Hey” Spider-Man turned and stuck out his hand to Steve. 

“Hi Mr. Captain America Sir!” Steve also cautiously shook his hand. Behind them Iron-Man was facepalming and Iron Lad was in stitches.

“How are you doing that?” Bucky asked

“All right, come on Spidey. You're freaking the old men out.” Tony said. Spider Man flipped off the ceiling landing perfectly on his feet. Steve decided to ask the question that was on his mind. 

“Stark I thought you were the only one who piloted the suit.” he said gesturing to the slender red and silver suit standing next to Tony. 

“I’m Iron Lad” Iron lad stuck out his hand and shook with the two super soldiers. 

“Are you his sidekick or something?” Steve asked.

“Ha Ha very funny. I’m my own superhero thank you very much.” All of a sudden there was a flash on lightning and a crack of thunder. 

“Where is this coming from?” Natasha asked. Loki went slightly pale and looked around. 

“What's wrong?” Steve asked “Afraid of a little lightning?”

“I’m not overly fond of what follows.” Loki responded. The group looked at eachother confused. Suddenly something hit the top of the jet.Everyone looked at each other in alarm. Tony, Steve and Bucky scrambled for their weapons while Spider Man and Iron Lad dropped into defensive stances. Tony pressed the button to open the bay doors, telling Peter and Harley to stay put over their private com link. 

Just then a large man with long blond hair, wielding a hammer, dropped into the jet. Tony charged the repulsors to blast the ban but the man knocked him backwards before he could get a shot off. He grabbed Loki and flew off. 

Tony sighed. “And now there's that guy.”

“Another Asgardian?” Natasha yelled.

“That guy’s a friendly?” Bucky asked 

“Doesn’t matter if he frees Loki or kills him the Tesseract’s lost.” As Tony said this we walked over to the open bay doors. 

“Stark we need a plan of attack!” Steve yelled. 

“I have a plan. Attack. Spidey, Lad stay with the jet.” he yelled as he jumped out the door. Bucky grabbed two parachutes and passed one to Steve.

“I’d sit this one out.” Natasha shouted.

“I don't see how we can!” Steve responded 

“These guys come from legend, they’re basically gods.” 

“There's only one god ma’am and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.”

“Now's not the time for a theology discussion.” Bucky yelled

“Oh I’m sorry Bucky” Steve sassed. 

“Shut up Punk”

“Jerk” with that the two super soldiers lept out of the plane. 

“Damn It!” Natasha swore “You two stay here.” 

“Sorry Ms. Black Widow Ma’am! We can't do that!” Spider Man said as he and Iron Lad jumped out of the plane.

As the two teens flew they saw the trickster god standing alone and took their chance. Harley flew down and Peter shot web after web at Loki until they entirely covered his torso with his arms pinned to his sides. The god looked curiously up at them. 

“Are those coming out of you?” he asked. Before Peter could say anything that could potentially reveal their identities Harley clapped his metal clad hands over his brothers mouth.

“That's none of your business. You’re coming with us.” He grabbed Loki and flew off. Peter Let out a web and followed. 

\--------------------

Natasha, Bucky, Steve, Thor and Bruce sat around the table in the bridge and watched Loki and Fury on a screen. 

“In case it's unclear,” Fury’s voice came through the speakers, “If you try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass,” He pushed a few buttons and the floor beneath the glass cage opened up. “30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?” He pushed more buttons and the floor closed and he gestured to Loki “ant” he gestured back to the control panel “boot,” Loki chuckled. 

“It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me” 

“Built for something a lot stronger than you.”

“Oh I’ve heard” Loki looked straight into the camera “A mindless beast makes play, he's still a man.” Bruce fidgeted uncomfortably at that “How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?”

“How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can’t hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.” 

“Oh. It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power. Unlimited, power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share? And then to be reminded what real power is.” 

Fury smirked “Well let me know if real power wants a magazine or something.” The video shut off.

“He really grows on you doesn’t he?” Bruce asked sarcastically. 

“Loki’s gunna draw this out. So, Thor, what's his play” Steve asked the god of thunder. 

“He has an army called the Chitauri. They’re not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth, in return, I think for the Tesseract.” 

“So an army… from outer space.” Steve said, sounding resigned.

“I miss the days we were the weirdest thing in science.” Bucky added. Steve nodded. 

“So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for.” 

“Selvig?” Thor asked.

“He’s an astrophysicist.” Bruce explained. 

“He's a friend.” 

“Loki has him under some kind of spell” Natasha added “along with one of ours” 

“I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here.” 

“I don’t think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy’s brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy in him.” Bruce argued.

“Take care how you speak.” Thor boomed “Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard and he is my brother.” 

“He killed eighty people in two days” Natasha pointed out

“He’s adopted?” Thor said, shifting uncomfortably. 

“I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium… what do they need the iridium for?” Bruce pondered. 

“It's a stabilizing agent.” Tony announced as he walked in, Spider Man and Iron Lad in toe. “It means the portal won’t collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD.” 

“So the portal can open as wide and stay open as long and Loki wants, Iron Lad chimed in. Tony walked over to Fury’s station. 

“Uh, raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails.” The helicarrier crew looked at him in confusion and annoyance. “That man’s playing Galaga! He thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did.” Steve and Bucky looked around, trying to figure out what Galaga was and whether or not it was important. Tony covered one of his eyes and moved his head a bit. “How does Fury see these things?”

“He turns” Agent Hill deadpanned. 

“Sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs in a power source of high-energy density. Something to kickstart the cube.” 

“Last night”

“Did no one else do the homework?” Spider Man asked incredulously “come on guys not cool” 

“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Bucky asked 

“He’d need to heat the cube up to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.” Bruce said

“Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect.” Iron lad pointed out. 

“Well if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet.” 

“Finally! Someone who speaks english!” Tony exclaimed. 

“Is that what just happened?” Steve asked

“Aw come on Punk, you mean you don’t understand thermonuclear astrophysics?” Bucky sassed. 

“Like you understood anything they said, Jerk.” 

“Course I did. You heard him, they need to break through the honeycomb barrier then they can reach ion heavy fusion at a reactor!” The two super soldiers glared at each other for a second before breaking out into smiles. Meanwhile Tony had walked over to Dr. Banner, followed by Iron Lad and Spider Man. Spidey was literally jumping up and down in excitement while Iron Lad was doing a marginally better job at hiding his, if only because he was encased in a metal suit.

“Your work on anti electron collisions is unparalleled” Tony said “And I’m a  _ huge  _ fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.” 

“Thanks” 

“Oh right I guess I should introduce you.” He gestured to the two heroes behind him (Spidey was still bouncing) “These are Spider Man and Iron Lad. They are also huge fans of your work.” Spidey took this as his que to speak. 

“Oh my gosh Dr. Banner! It is so good to meet you! I’m a huge fan! I’ve read all your papers! I found the one you wrote about biochemistry’s role in finding cures for rare and so far incurable diseases particularly interesting!” He gushed. Bruce looked taken aback. 

“You've read my papers?” 

“Of course” Spider Man answered immediately. Iron Lad stepped up. 

“Don’t mind him, he's just a huge bio chem nerd.” He shook Dr. Banner’s hand “I’ll admit, I’m more interested in mechanical engineering but your work is extremely fascinating.” Banner looked even more stunned at this. Fury decided to take pity on the man and step in at that moment. 

“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him, Stark.”

“I’d start with that stick on his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon” Steve interjected. Bucky nodded. 

“I don’t know about that but it is powered by the cube. And I’d like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.” Fury stated.

“Monkeys?” Thor asked “I do not understand”

“I do!” Steve shouted “I understood that reference!” 

“Good for you Stevie,” Bucky said, clapping the other man on the back.

“You know what Buck…” He was cut off from saying anything else by Tony turning to Bruce.

“Shall we play, Doctor?”

“This way” The two scientists walked off the bridge, followed by Spider Man and Iron Lad. Tony could hear his sons squealing about working with Dr. Banner in person over the private com link. He smiled.

\--------------------

Dr. Banner ran a spectrometer over Loki’s staff. “The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig’s reports of the Tesseract. But it's going to take weeks to process.”

“If you bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster you can clock this at around 600 teraflops” Iron Lad suggested.

“Huh” Tony hummed “That's a great idea Little Potato.” Harley groaned. Bruce looked confused. 

“Little Potato?” He asked.

“The first time I met him he shot me with a very well engineered potato gun” Tony explained. Harley groaned again. 

“Really!” He mumbled

“Oh, so what are your stories?... If you don’t mind me asking.” Bruce gestured to the two young heroes. “FOrgive me. I didn’t get much news about these things in Calcutta.” 

“They’re vigilanties” Tony answered. He didn’t trust his sons to not give away their identities. “They take on mostly street level crime. Though, they did take down a pretty big weapons smuggling ring about five months ago that the FBI had been dealing with for a while.”

“That's good”

\--------------------

The four heroes had gotten back to work when Tony decided to make a move that he knew would make Harley and Peter extremely happy. 

“You know, Doctor, you should come by Stark Tower some time. Top ten floors. All R&D, you’d love it, it's candyland.” He heard his sons squeal again over coms and smiled. 

“Thanks but the last time I was in New York I kind of, broke Harlem.” Bruce replied sheepishly.

“Well I promise a stress free environment. No tension, no surprises.” with that Tony jabbed a screwdriver into Bruce’s side.

“Ow”

“Hey!” a new voice yelled. Harley and Peter turned to see Captain America and Winter Soldier walk into the lab “Are you nuts?” 

“Jury’s out!” Tony turned back to Bruce “You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?”

“Is everything a joke to you?” 

“Funny things are.” 

“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn’t funny.” Steve shot back. Bucky face palmed. 

“Please don't pick a fight, Stevie” 

“No offence doc” Steve finished, resolutely ignoring Bucky who threw his hands up in the air. 

“It's all right, I wouldn’t have come aboard if I couldn’t handle pointy things” Bruce responded. 

“You’re tiptoeing big man. You need to strut.” 

“And you need to focus on the problem Mr. Stark” 

“Or you could go and pick a fight.” Bucky mumbled to himself exasperatedly. Spidey heard this and giggled a bit. 

“You think I’m not?” Tony asked “Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn’t he telling us? I can’t do the equation unless I have all the variables.”

“You think Fury’s hiding something.” 

“I mean he is a spy, Steve.” Bucky said. TOny raised his eyebrows and pointed to Bucky. 

“Yes! Blue Eyes is right, Captain he's “the” spy. His secrets have secrets.” Bucky choked at being called Blue Eyes “It's bugging him too.” Tony finished, gesturing to Bruce. 

“Uh” the Doctor stuttered “I just wanna finish my work here, and…” 

“Doctor?” Steve interrupted. Bruce sighed.

“A warm light for all mankind’ Loki’s jab at Fury about the Cube.” 

“I heard it.” 

“Well I think that was meant for you.” Bruce gestured to Tony who offered him a dried blueberry in response. “Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the Tower, it was still all over the news” 

“Stark Tower?” Steve asked “That big ugly building in New York?” Spider Man and Iron Lad both made noises of indignation and tony glared at the Captain. 

“Yes, Steve, good, piss him off, great idea” Steve ignored him. 

“It’s powered by an arc reactor, a self sustaining energy source. THat building will run itself for what? A year?” 

“That's just the prototype” Spiderman butt in. 

“Exactly” Tony said “I’m kind of the only name in clean energy right now, that's what he’s getting at.” 

“So why didn’t SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?” 

“I should probably look into that. Once my description program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD’s secure files.” 

“I’m sorry did you say…” 

“Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I’ll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide.” 

“Yet you’re confused about why they didn’t want you around.” 

“Hey!” Spider Man yelled. Iron Lad grabbed Spidey’s arm to keep him from punching Captain America in the face and Tony sent him a warning look. Bucky face palmed again.

“Really Steve!” Bucky decided to step in before Steve could actually start a fight. “Ok Punk lets let them get back to work and stop trying to pick fights with everyone!” he said the last part in a growl as he glared at Steve. He then grabbed the others arm and all but dragged him out the lab door. They got half way down the hall before he said anything. 

“You are unbelievable! Why are you like this? ‘Hi I’m Steve Rogers and I try to fight everything that breathes!’ I shoulda left you in that dumpster when we were kids.” Bucky ranted. 

“Aw come on Buck. You love me.” When he said that Bucky looked around a bit frantically. 

“Shhh, Jeez Punk. You can’t say stuff like that. Someone could hear you!” Steve pouted. Bucky sighed “Of course I love you. Just shhh about it next time.” 

“We shouldn't have to hide”

“I know Stevie. I don’t like it either. But. You know how the world is. You may enjoy punching homophobes but I’d like to avoid it if I can.” 

“Who knows. Maybe the future is more accepting.” 

“Maybe.” With that they walked in silence for a few more minutes. 

“Wait. Where are we going?” Bucky asked. The shit eating grin Steve gave him made his stomach drop. “Oh no”

“We’re gonna break into SHIELD to see what they're hiding!” Bucky flung his head back and groaned. 

“Oh course we are! What else did I expect from you?!” 

“You don’t have to come, Buck,” Steve said innocently. 

“Oh no you need supervision. I am not going to leave your dumbass alone.” Steve grinned. Pretty soon they got to a door and forced it open. The room it led to was large and filled with metal containers. They heard some agents talking a ways away and quietly jumped into one of the cat walks above them. Bucky chose a box and forced the lid open. He growled when he saw several guns and a helmet with the HYDRA insignia etched into the side.

“Son of a bitch.” Steve swore. 

\--------------------

The two super soldiers ran back to the lab and slammed the HYDRA weapons into one of the tables. 

“Phase two is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons.” Steve answered the question Tony had just posed to fury. Bucky stood fuming behind him. “Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for us.”

“Rogers we gathered everything related to the Tesseract this does not mean that we’re making…” 

“I’m sorry Nick,” Tony interrupted. He flipped one of the screanes around, it showed the schematics for a missile “What were you lying?” 

“I was wrong, director. The world hasn’t changed a bit” Steve growled. Just then Nathas and Thor walked in. Bruce pointed at her. 

“Did you know about that?” he asked

“You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?” she asked. Bruce laughed. 

“I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed.”

“Loki is manipulating you.” 

“And you've been doing what, Exactly?” 

“You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.” 

“Yes and I’m not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I’d like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.”

“Because of him.” Fury answered, pointing at Thor. 

“Me?”

“Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.” 

“My people want nothing but peace with your planet.” Thor defended.

“But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The worlds filling up with people who can’t be matched, that can't be controlled.” 

“Like you control the cube?” Steve asked. 

“Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies it is a signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war.” 

“A higher form!” Bucky asked alarmed 

“You forced our hand.” Fury said “We had to come up with something.”   
“A nuclear deterrent,” Tony interrupted “Because that always calmes everything right down.”

“Remind me how you made your fortune, Stark?” 

“I’m sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep…” 

“Excuse me Captain, he hasn’t made weapons in years.” Spidey said. With that full on arguing broke out. 

In the corner Harley had his hands on Peter’s shoulders as the other boy covered his ears. The loud complicated noise of everyone yelling over each other was hell on his senses. Finally everyone stopped talking at the same time and it quieted enough for Peter to uncover his ears. 

“You ok?” Harley whispered. Peter nodded. 

“You speak of control yet you cause chaos.” Thor boomed.

“That's his M.O., isn’t it.” Bruce asked. “I mean what are we a team? No, we’re a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb.” 

“You need to step away,” Fury commanded.

“Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?” Tony asked, resting his hand on Steve's shoulder. Bucky knew this was not gonna end well. 

“You knew damn well why. Back off” Steve said shoving the other man's hand away.” 

“Oh I’m starting to want you to make me.” 

“Ya, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you.” 

“Stark naked!” Iron Lad yelled. He and Spidey laughed and high fived. 

“Did you just…”

_ BOOM  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this far! Comments, kudos and constructive criticism is always appreciated! I hope you all have a great day/night.


End file.
